The Christ Spirit

Who was Yeshua Messiah? Those Sophians raised in a traditional church setting knew him first as Jesus Christ. Yet, now as Sophians we find ourselves asking, “Did I really ever know him?” Can we ever know Jesus Christ without first knowing ourselves? These are the questions we ask ourselves more and more as we come to understand the original beliefs which informed followers of “The Way.”

The Gospel of Thomas was first ignored and then lost for centuries and thus escaped the “refinements” and religiously-correct scalping at the hands of canonization. Thomas retains the original “sayings” format that scholars believe the Four Gospels lost through numerous edits. That Thomas went “undiscovered” until the 19th and 20th centuries may actually have been its salvation. Discovered during a time in our human and historic evolution more open to viewing such texts as true literary and cultural artifacts saved it from being annihilated as a “fraudulent” piece of work to be burned or compromised as one needing a KJV-type translation. The sayings of Thomas speak volumes to humanity at the very time humanity is prepared to hear its message:

Jesus said, “If those who lead you say, ‘See, the Kingdom is in heaven,’ then the birds of the heaven will precede you. If they say to you,‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is within you and it is without you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.” (Thomas, Saying 5)

Those who have recognized the Christ-spirit within find perfect resonance with this saying. Sophians have come to understand the Soul of the Messiah as the already perfect and yet unfolding potential of the will of Ain Sof Or, the Endless Light. Yeshua Messiah was the incarnation of the Soul of the Messiah, sent in a particular time in our human evolution that would deliver many from lawlessness while also creating a long-lasting institution that some would criticize for its inhumanity. How, they might say, could a loving and just God have sent a “Savior” whose legacy would result in so much bloodshed?

“Savior”? Was that really Yeshua’s mission? To show us that through no effort of our own — merely via trust in him — we would find salvation? Sophians believe Yeshua Messiah came to show us that the path to salvation lies within each and every one of us. He was not born realized but became enlightened through a lifetime of spiritual practice and awakening. What is salvation but a remembrance of our true nature as children of the Primordial Light ? Free will is a beautiful part of creation, but that then means evolution is necessary in order to understand and see. Remembrance requires an evolution in both the collective and individual consciousness. Many were not prepared for such remembrance at the time of Yeshua’s appearance and, instead, they made him into an icon, into God. Once institutionalized, he was used throughout history to excuse or support many political and war efforts devised by the minds of still-evolving humanity, influenced more by cosmic ignorance than the True Light. Gnostic Christians, such as Sophians, who dared to view him as other than the incarnation of God, were driven so far underground they were only recently able to resurface to form study and fellowship circles.

Sophians study the words of Yeshua with an inner knowing that he was here to show us “the Way.” This belief both sustains and motivates us. We view God as both beyond and yet within us, and we have confidence that we are never a-part from God. The grief and pain faced by most of humanity is the result of both an individual and collective consciousness that denies its own Christ-essence, thus always feeling separate from God. Our studies of the Scriptures, the Kabbalah, and Gnostic texts show us the “Way” and in turn deepen our faith. Our study and faith together increase our gnosis so that we “gnow” two things: First, we are not separate from God and, second, recognition of the Christ-spirit is the beginning of an understanding of the All.

Jesus said, “Let him who seeks not cease seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he will be troubled. When he has been troubled, he will marvel,and he will reign over the All.” (Thomas, Saying 2)

What does it mean to “reign over the all?” It means an understanding of the Sacred Unity so that all we do is with the heart and mind of God. Within this place we find unimaginable peace:

Let me share with you the idea that the initiates of our lineage hold in their spiritual practice and spiritual living. The view they hold is that is is the Christ-Spirit in them that prays, mediates, and worships God in Spirit and Truth and that it is the Christ-self who lives their life and labors to accomplish God’s plan through it. In everything that is done, it is the Holy Spirit that is the doer and the initiate is the conscious witness and vehicle of this action of Divine Grace. (Tau Malachi in Meditations on the Mystical Teachings in The Gospel of St. Thomas)

The answers to all of life’s questions are contained within the Inner Light of Awareness. In this gnosis we are free and alive. Praise the Holy One of Being Who Sustains Us with the Gifts of Creation and Uplifts Us with the Radiant Awareness of Our True Nature.